“On feast days of precept, Mass is to be heard; there is an abstinence from servile work, legal acts, and likewise, unless there is a special indult or legitimate customs provide otherwise, from public trade, shopping, and other public buying and selling” (1917 CIC 1248)
In the past we have covered various topics as it concerns the Third Commandment and the Church’s precept requiring attendance (i.e., assistance) at Holy Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. Some of those articles may be found below:
- Did the Catholic Church Change the Sabbath Day?
- Sanctify Sunday by Abstaining from Servile Work
- How Can I Sanctify Sundays [Beyond Just Mass]?
Based on these articles, some have asked what activities are sinful for Catholics. Is it sinful to shop for groceries or buy clothes? Is cleaning sinful? Does it matter if we clean our homes or do it for others for money? Does it matter if we do it for 10 minutes or do it for longer than 2 hours? These questions by honest Catholics who seek to live out the Commandments are praiseworthy. Moral theologians have sought to help clarify the matter by expounding principles and presenting examples of possible exceptions.
Possible Exceptions
The simplest rule of thumb is that servile work is that kind of manual work for which someone would, according to social convention, receive payment. For example, many people are employed as landscapers, tailors, cooks, or maids who clean and iron. Thus, these activities are objectively classified as “servile work.” It is not legitimate for a lawyer to argue: “I enjoy yard work, it relaxes me. Therefore, yard work is not servile work for me.” Note the subjective nature of this argument. It is not an issue of whether one enjoys a certain kind of labor or if one does not personally get paid for doing a particular kind of work. Rather, there must be objective standards by which something is classified as servile work and therefore prohibited by the Third Commandment.
Nevertheless, the Church is a kind and compassionate mother, always seeking the good for her many children. Her laws exist to instill virtue in her children, to form them according to truth and goodness, and ultimately to lead them to sanctity. Her laws are not meant to be unreasonable or burdensome. Hence, she allows for legitimate exceptions.
Below is a list of concrete examples of activities allowed on days of rest and those not permitted. These practical examples are taken from Moral Theology: Englished and Adapted to the Laws and Customs of the United States of America by Fr. Heribert Jone and Fr. Urban Adelman. In that work, Father Jone states that:
“Sunday rest requires abstinence from all servile works, judicial acts, and commercial occupations. There are reasons that excuse.” The reasons that excuse are generally grouped under “dispensation, religious services, and one’s own or a neighbor’s necessity.”
Items below are quoted from the 1962 printing of this book – the last edition published before the start of Vatican II – unless otherwise noted. These examples may be extrapolated to our current day to help us better observe the Church’s precepts and the Divine Law.
Servile Works Permitted:
- Works which are permitted include “walking, riding, driving, rowing, journeying, even though these may be very fatiguing.” As a result, we can conclude that exercising is permitted on Sundays, as is driving even long distances to Mass or to visit family.
- “Liberal and artistic works are also lawful. Studying, teaching, drawing, architectural designing, playing music, writing (also typing), painting, delicate sculpturing, embroidering, taking photographs” are also lawful. Fr. Jone notes: “These works are lawful even if done for remuneration.”
- Some light housework is permitted under the necessity exception per Fr. Jone. This might include tidying up a room, making dinner, washing dishes, and other basic functions of daily life – which would be distinct from doing masonry work on a home, painting rooms, remodeling, etc. These are simple daily chores which keep a family fed and home in proper order. Yet, Fr. Jone notes that for such basic housework, there is a general time limit as it may not constitute the entire day. The performance of these works generally for “two and a half or three hours” would be a mortal sin, according to how assiduous the work is. As an example, Fr. Jone notes that operating a washing machine for laundry “would be only a venial sin if done for that length of time without an excusing cause or dispensation.” Whereas, deep cleaning the kitchen for more than two and a half hours would likely be a mortal sin.
- Necessity also permits poor people to work on Sundays “if they cannot otherwise support themselves.” Practically speaking, such a situation should be transitory until they get to a position where they may transition to a role or schedule where they take Sundays and Holy Days off. And they must still make every effort possible to hear Holy Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
- Necessity also permits farmers to “harvest their grain, hay, etc. or gather fruit on Sunday if a storm threatens.” Similarly, “any necessary work is allowed in case of fire, flood, etc.” And some professions like mechanics may “sharpen, repair, etc. tools that farmers and artisans need on Monday,” whereas tailors “may work on Sunday if they cannot otherwise finish mourning clothes for a funeral.”
- Fr. Jone further adds, “light manual labor is also probably lawful for charitable purposes.” One can deduce from this that the corporal works of mercy remain good and are lawful on Sundays.
- Dispensations may also be granted by one’s bishop or parish priest. One historical example of dispensations applied to farmers in Maryland while it was still a colony. In 1722, Bishop Giffard, the Vicar Apostolic of London, approved a dispensation “on behalf of the mission of Maryland for the ease and quiet of poor Catholics of that Mission” to sanction a dispensation of holy days. He granted the Maryland Superior the faculties to dispense Catholics from holy days and fasting obligations. As American Catholic Quarterly Review notes, “Bishop Giffard permitted the Jesuits to dispense Catholics in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania from the obligations of all holy days for just cause, e.g. getting in crops at harvest, between May 1 and September 30, respect for the feasts of Ascension, Easter Monday, Corpus Christi, and Assumption.”
Servile Works Prohibited:
- Servile works listed as forbidden include “plowing, sowing, harvesting, sewing, cobbling, tailoring, printing, masonry works” and “all works in mines and factories.” Yet, as noted, “there are reasons that excuse.” For instance, “custom justifies shaving, hair cutting, knitting, crocheting, etc.”
- “Servile works are forbidden even though done gratis, as a form of recreation or for some pious purpose.” For instance, mowing the lawn because one enjoys it would not be permitted.
- While religious services permit an individual “to ring church bells” or “to carry banners or pictures in procession” it does not permit one to “sweep the church or decorate the altars unless necessity requires this.”
Judicial Works Prohibited:
- Judicial works “are forbidden so far as they require juridical procedures or disturb the public. Such arts are summoning the defendant or witnesses, requiring the oath, publishing or carrying out the sentence.”
Judicial Works Permitted:
- Judicial works which are permitted include consulting a lawyer or granting a dispensation.
- General exceptions of necessity, religious services, and dispensation would also apply.
Commercial Occupations Prohibited:
- Such works generally forbidden include “marketing, fairs, buying and selling, public auctions, shopping in stores.” Fr. Jone importantly adds: “Local customs, however, justify some of these actions.” He cites as an example that it is not sinful for “private persons to confer or agree on the purchase or sale of cattle, lands, houses, etc.”
- One should not shop at department stores, electronics stores, hardware stores, etc. on Sundays. However, some stores like pharmacies are permitted since necessity requires them to be open. However, if one can wait to purchase even medicine on a different day, that would be better.
Commercial Occupations Permitted:
- Grocery shopping in itself is not sinful on Sundays as the purchasing of food is considered a necessity. Saint Alphonsus states this as well in Moral Theology. Thus, going to the store to buy a loaf of bread or bottles of water is permitted. However, the spirit of the law is also to be respected. If someone already has sufficient food items at home and can buy food any other day of the week or on Saturdays, it would seem imprudent to engage in any large shopping trips on Sundays.
- As mentioned above, buying medicine at pharmacies would be unquestionably acceptable on Sundays, as would keeping hospitals open.
- General exceptions of necessity, religious services, and dispensation would allow such works to be permitted if applicable. In the past, some theologians adopted a distinction between lesser feasts and higher-ranking ones, based in part on the Council of Arles in 1560. Buying and selling in such cases was permitted on lesser feasts so to allow farmers to participate in the work without losing a day’s work, but such activities were not allowed on more solemn Holy Days of Obligation and on Sundays. In our era with only a handful of Holy Days – significantly down from the 36 universal days established in 1642, such a distinction is likely not needed.
Conclusion:
It is important to not be too scrupulous. Do what we can to observe the sabbatical rest on Sundays and Holy Days, hear Holy Mass, and take the time to rest your minds and bodies. When in doubt if something is sinful, speak with your traditional Catholic priest and hear his thoughts and, if necessary, obtain a dispensation from him.